Thursday, April 2, 2009

Hello friends and family of Ross. It's Shannon with an update. I would like to begin by thanking everyone for their continued support, encouragement and prayers. These past two weeks have been two of the hardest and trying times that our family has ever gone through, but we know that we will all come out closer and stronger because of it.

On a lighter note, we have some great news!! ROSS IS HOME!! The doctors finally let him escape room 1041. The only thing that I can think of is who had to take down all of the stuff in the room?? Every single inch of the wall was covered with decorations and posters from friends. Thank you everyone who came by to visit, it means more than you will ever know.

Upon leaving the hospital Laurie and Kevin had the chance to visit with all of the doctors and were able to understand how serious all of his injuries really were/are. Ross is blessed beyond our understanding. Each of his injuries could have and should have been much worse and should have caused more trauma that they did. We all know who to give credit to for this blessing.

A few days ago he let us know that he was having double vision and that he was having incredibly painful headaches. These complaints aroused much concern and fear in all of us. Through out the past few days we have been told that Ross has hemorrhaging, contusions and sheering of the brain. We were surprised to find out how close they were to doing brain surgery on Ross to relieve the pressure. Thankfully the Neurosurgeon believes all of this should heal itself.

I am sharing this information with you because we want everyone to realize the severity of Ross' trauma. It is going to be a long road to recovery for him, longer than we initially understood. He is going to need tons of friends, tons of support, tons of encouragement tons of SLEEP and tons of prayers. We all know that Ross is incredibly strong, so we have no doubt that he will be back to 100%... the road to recovery is what we are facing now.

Ross is at home in Edmond, but we want to ask if you do visit please limit your visit to around 10 minutes. We all know that Ross would love to talk and hang out way more than this but for the next few weeks the Neurosurgeon specifically prescribed that he sleep and let his brain fully recover from the trauma.

Thanks again for all of your love and support!

In closing, here are some fun photos of Ross going outside for the first time in two weeks...

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Let us begin with yesterday. Yesterday the Roscoe we all know shown through the pain and the injury. He had a lot of visitors and friends come by with hellos and calories. It was difficult saying goodbye to his brother Drew, but there were a lot of people coming through, I think it kept his mind active. Everyday, especially yesterday we see progress, whether joking around and wanting to play cards, to the inflection in his voice, to sitting in a chair for longer than the physical therapist told him, to eating a Naked Qdoba burrito, etc. Ross was subtly looking more and more like his self.

Today, however, is not a day of regression--there is progress, but it is a day of pain. Ross is really struggling today with the totality of pain, literally from his knee to his head. Please even now as your reading this line, lift up your eyes to the hills and pray for the mercy of the Lord. Ross is a tough person and has a very high pain threshold, but eventually that threshold is tested. As he really began struggling, we just sat and sang in his heartsong. We sang, You Said, and King Eternal. In pain and suffering and in persecution, we worship in our heartsong. The setlist is not questioned, the worship leader is not criticized for his voice, the simple guitar not accented by a djembe or bass or violin is not needed. The Lord in His grace gives His Spirit and brings peace and hope that surpasses all understanding in his gift baskets.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Today Drew, Carsyn and myself had to head back home. We were so sad to go but we have to get back to work and school for Drew. If we could stay by his side for the next year, we would. I know Drew would for sure. I hated for him to have to leave him.

Upon leaving Ross asked Drew if he would just play him one more song before he left. Four songs later Ross promised this would be the last song, King Eternal. I knew immediately it was going to be such an emotional song. Anyone who has heard this song knows that the words can bring tears to your eyes. The song is such a proclamation of our Heavenly Fathers Eternal Reign.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when Drew finished the song (except for Carsyn of course, who filled her britches during the song in her LoLee’s lap).

Ross spoke up with tear filled eyes and said, “That’s it, that’s all it is about, our King Eternal.”

Ross has continued to amaze us with his incredible attitude. We have all had so many extreme emotions this week anywhere from, extreme fear, frustration, sadness and exhaustion. But Ross, the one lying in bed in excruciating pain remains constantly strong, positive and faithful.

I have learned so many lessons this week. I have been reminded of the important things in life. Family and the Lord. I have been reminded how important my walk with Christ is. Ross is simply reflecting who he is in Christ with his positive attitude. I can guarantee you that I would not have that good of an attitude if I was in his circumstance. Through Ross I have been encouraged to dig deeper and grow closer to our heavenly father.

In closing. Ross is doing well today. He is tired so we are continuing to ask for visitors to just call before you come or to just know that you might not get to see him if you do come up. I am passing the blog on to Tyrel to keep you updated on things. Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouraging words. Ross read through all of his comments today, it is such good medicine for him.

Please continue to pray for complete healing and for him to be able to leave the hospital soon.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Friday, March 27, 2009

The blood transfusion is proving to be a good choice. Ross is more talkative and just seems to have a bit more energy all around. He is actually opening his eyes when he talks to you and he is asking to talk to more people.

He is getting a lot of rest so thanks to all who let him rest today.

We all know that Ross is a HUGE Lost fan, correct?? Today he asked if he could watch Wednesday night’s episode. Drew and Tyrel had downloaded it on ITUNES (just incase Ross wanted to watch it at any point) so we set it up and Drew and Ross watched it. Ross seemed to really enjoy sitting there watching the show with Drew.

When Drew and I were heading out tonight to get Carsyn down Ross thought that Drew was leaving for the night. Ross asked Drew if he would come back and play him guitar, and then he said is all I want is for Drew to play me the guitar. I immediately started crying… it was just a really cool moment.

We had barely made it to the house to get Carsyn down and Ross was calling Drew to get back and play him the guitar. So great, makes me so happy that Drew is here.

Lets pray for a really good morning tomorrow. Mornings have seemed to be really rough, lets hope for a good one tomorrow.

Ross is doing good today. This morning at 5:00 A.M. he woke up asking for Ice Cream, so that is always a good sign.

We are all ready for him to walk out of here, but we know things like this take time to heal. Ross remains so positive. He keeps talking about the Lord and how good our God is. What a great guy. He keeps lifting all of our spirits.

The PT got him to sit up on the edge of his bed this morning, and he didn't even pass out!! GO ROSS!!

His blood count has dropped a little, (TOTALLY normal with trauma victims and post surgery), so he is getting a blood transfusion right now. Nothing to worry about, just a normal procedure. But he will be resting for the next 4 hours while he receives the blood.

Here are a few specific prayers request:-For complete healing from all of his injuries.-For good rest to strengthen his body.-For not other complications.-For strength and energy for his family as they fight this battle with him.-Mostly, pray that this situation will ultimately bring people to/or closer to Christ.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Today has been up and down but we are all going to bed on a good note. Ross had a rough morning trying to get out of bed and sitting up (his body just was not ready)... but now he is doing awesome.

He is recognizing people who are coming to visit and talking to people more.

Tonight he asked us where his phone was, we gave him his phone and he said he would call us if he needed us! HA!! Implying that he wanted us out so he could rest. We all went down to the cafeteria and told fun stories about Ross and breathed a big SIGH of relief.

Hopefully Ross will be doing even better tomorrow and ready to chat with more visitors!!

He wont be going home tomorrow but lets keep our fingers crossed for Monday!

Thank you so much for praying for Ross and for all of the messages that you have sent to Ross, Drew, Kevin and Laurie. Thanks to all the visitors and supporters who have stopped by. Drew and I keep sitting here in aw as people fill the room every few minutes to come give Ross support. A nurse told a friend earlier that this is something they have never seen before (so many visitors). I guess the first night that he was here he had 20 visitors in the E.R. AND thanks to Tyrel for sticking by his side the whole time!

Anyways, I just wanted to give an update on where things are. He was just wheeled off to have surgery on his hip. We were hoping that they could do surgery on his knee at the same time but they said we have to wait until later this week.

His spirits have seemed to be getting better the last day. When we first got here he could only express that he was in pain. But we started surrounding him and just chatting with him every time that he would wake up and that seemed to calm him down more. Last night he was quoting scripture that him and Kamryn are memorizing together and telling Drew he was glad that he was here. All good signs!

Anyways, just a quick update. I will update again this afternoon after surgery and we know how things are going....